The present invention is directed to a cleated wheel assembly used to bias a single article from a stack of like articles.
Individual cleated wheels are known in the art for biasing articles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,235 to Ferrini and U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,825 to Onomoto, et al. disclose the use of a cleated wheel for separating individual items from a stack of items. Onomoto also discloses the use of a frictional member distal to the cleated wheel to prevent the conveyance of the next adjacent article.
Two or more cleated wheels are often used in cooperation to engage and bias a single piece of blank stock. As a result, it is important that the cooperating cleats present uniform surfaces and be installed within narrow tolerances of one another. Even small deviations in the operator technique of installing and replacing cleats upon the outer surface of a wheel can result in inefficient feeding, damaged stock, as well as creating uneven wear of the cleats.
The securing means used to attach cleats to the outer rim of the wheel are themselves subject to wear and require periodic maintenance. Since a cleated wheel is often one of many wheels or rollers carried by a given drive shaft, removal of a cleated wheel has heretofore required removal of numerous other attachments carried by the same axle. Such removal results in extensive and costly machine down time. Thus, there is a need for improvement within the art.